RadNet’s QA Program
RadNet’s Quality Assurance and Compliance Departments drive results through our various quality and regulatory programs, which aim for high performance against government standards, quality control measures, and focused quality improvement studies.
Here’s how we benchmark our performance.
Our interaction with patients is a top priority. At every touch point in the patient experience, from scheduling to post-appointment follow-up, we track our responsiveness and gather patient feedback.
- Our patient satisfaction model compares individual imaging centers with other joint venture centers and RadNet overall to meet realistic goals.
- Our patients are encouraged to offer feedback about medical appointments at any time, and we conduct a large-scale, points-driven patient satisfaction survey for one full week each month.
- Results are incorporated into quarterly programs to help centers meet and maintain our high threshold for patient satisfaction.
Extensive productivity, quality, and financial reporting is conducted in all RadNet centers, benchmarking a single site against other facilities in the RadNet network. So gains in one center translate into rapid learning and continual performance improvement across the enterprise.
- We monitor and measure the service provided by our contact centers. We take great pride in offering our patients the highest level of efficiency and quality.
- Images are read and transcribed, signed, and delivered as soon as possible, generally within two business days. We monitor and measure Report Turn Around Times, total and in stages—including the minutes from exam end to dictation, dictation to transcription, transcription to signature. A vast majority of our reports (87.5%) are finalized in less than eight hours.
- Mammography reports are separately monitored; a specialized team performs double-reads using computer-aided detection.
- We monitor and measure Waiting Room Turnover, which includes the wait from check-in to exam start and the wait from scheduled appointment time to exam start. Our reports indicate that most of our patients start their exams less then 10 minutes after check-in and less than five minutes from their scheduled appointment time. Very few of our patients start their exams more than 20 minutes of their check in and/or scheduled appointment time. At RadNet, we focus on thorough and attentive service to every patient, and medical complications sometimes require additional time.
Our staff is trained to report and correct hazardous conditions as soon as they are noticed, and we have stringent procedures for regular site inspections.
- RadNet’s Annual Regulatory Compliance Audit is intended for use by RadNet Management, Inc. center management and our employees as a working tool in the implementation and maintenance of our respective Regulatory/ Safety/ Compliance and Center Accreditation Standards. The center audit requirements are also formulated on the risks associated with potential safety hazards, compliance standards, and operating losses that the company may be exposed to. Information collected ensures compliance for regulatory obligations. Additionally, it helps ensure that safety, compliance, and loss control programs are given the proper priority and attention and are achieving the desired results while maintaining consistency in procedures. The Audit assists new and existing facilities in developing and/or revising safety, compliance, and loss control programs by providing both internal and external resources to ensure overall compliance with our Company policies and procedures.
- Bi-annually, we conduct full-scale facility safety inspections to help ensure a safe environment for our staff and patients.
- Each year, our employees take a comprehensive Safety Training course on topics ranging from bloodborne pathogens to emergency response.
- Each quarter, we require center employees to participate in a safety drill to practice disaster response, evacuation procedures, and code blue response.
- Inspection of emergency response equipment (crash carts, oxygen tanks, emergency kits and defibrillators) is documented and performed weekly.
- Emergency drugs on that equipment are inspected monthly.
At RadNet, we recognize that our relationship with referring providers drives our business.
- We measure report turn-around times and the accuracy and technical quality of examinations.
- We provide sophisticated online mechanisms for referring provider surveys and outreach to keep communication efficient and effective.
- Our Physician Portal enables providers to securely view their patients’ exams and reports.
- Through regular visits, RadNet marketing professionals ensure that referring providers stay up-to-date on our services and receive immediate attention for any issues that arise.
All safety inspections are tracked and documented. RadNet remains 100% compliant in these processes.
- The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) calls for all providers of CT, MRI, Breast MRI, Nuclear Medicine, and PET exams that bill under Part B of the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule to be accredited in order to receive payment for the technical component of these services. RadNet centers prepare for MIPPA audits by reviewing these parameters: Facility Information, Personnel Qualifications, Personnel Documentation for Technologists, Personnel Documentation for Physicians, Personnel Documentation for Medical Physicists, Annual Physics Survey/ Performance Evaluation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission or State Inspection Reports, Policies and Procedures, Physician Peer Review, Patient Report Evaluation, and Image Labeling Evaluation.
- Our CT, MRI, PET, Nuclear Medicine and Mammography equipment is accredited by the American College of Radiology (ACR). The ACR requires us to undergo a rigorous application and inspection process that includes review of image quality, radiologist and technologist qualifications, equipment quality control testing, radiation dose management, and policy review.
- Radiation health physicists inspect our equipment and facilities annually to confirm that we are State and payor accredited compliant.
- Center staff also inspects our imaging equipment on a quarterly basis to ensure it remains in good repair.
Many RadNet radiologists participate in RadPeer, a confidential clinical peer review program under the American College of Radiology (ACR). Peer review is the objective evaluation of the quality of a physician’s performance by his or her colleagues. Physicians professionally and candidly, but confidentially, evaluate each other. The foremost objective of peer review is the promotion of the highest quality of patient care. Peer review is one of the most respected activities in quality assurance and total quality management. RadNet’s peer review program helps ensure that our radiologists are competent and practice within the boundaries of professionally accepted norms.
Regulatory Compliance
Each of RadNet’s mammography departments achieves complete compliance with annual inspections. RadNet centers also maintain quality status with MIPPA State and Federal inspections and periodic surveys (including OSHA, plus URAC, NCQA, and various State Departments of Health Radiation Control Boards). Periodic surveys review equipment, patient and staff environment, imaging reporting accuracy, patient quality of care, and adherence to radiation protection and monitoring of dose levels during diagnostic procedures. Annual on-site surveys measure personnel performance, infection control, forms used for documentation, and certification of technical and professional licensure.
ACR
The American College of Radiology publishes evidence-based practice standards, appropriateness criteria, and technical standards that serve as a principal resource for radiologists, radiation oncologists, and clinical medical physicists in the U.S. The ACR’s accreditation programs distinguish facilities that have passed a stringent, ongoing, broad set of quality requirements in various modalities. Requirements range from staff qualifications to needle placement. ACR accreditation in certain modalities is mandated under the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) as well as for modalities mandated under the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA). RadNet is ACR-accredited in CT, MRI, Mammography, Ultrasound, Breast MRI, Breast Ultrasound, Stereotactic Breast Biopsy, and Nuclear Medicine & PET.
AAAASF
The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc. was established in 1980 to develop an accreditation program to standardize and improve the quality of medical and surgical care in ambulatory surgery facilities while assuring the public of high standards for patient care and safety in an accredited facility. RadNet’s surgical centers meet and maintain these accreditation standards.
